Roger Federer secured his third successive title with victory over Igor Andreev at the Swiss Open on Sunday. The Wimbledon champion went into the match complaining of tiredness after rain had forced him to play four matches in three days.
But, spurred on by the Gstaad crowd, Federer beat Andreev 6-2 6-3 5-7 6-3 for his first title on home soil.
The victory was Federer's 16th in succession and he will now take a break before the American hard-court season.
His recent run of success began at the pre-Wimbledon grass-court event in Halle last month and continued at the All England Club.
 |  It's not easy to come straight from Wimbledon |
But after finishing runner-up in Basel in 2000 and 2001, and losing to Jiri Novak in last year's Gstaad final, Federer was pleased to win in front of the Swiss fans. "The first finals in Basel, I wasn't the favourite," he said.
"But this time, I thought I had the best chance and went in as the favourite. It's really great to finally lift a trophy at home.
"To be honest, when I came here in 1998 as a wild card, I never thought I'd be able to win on clay here.
"It's not easy to come straight from Wimbledon. To adapt to the clay from the grass is extremely difficult."
Federer raced through the first two sets in 45 minutes and went a break up in the third before Andreev fought back.
But the 20-year-old Russian, playing in his first career final, dropped serve twice in the fourth as Federer took the title.
"I'm very happy to have gotten to the final," said Andreev. "This was a good experience.
"I'll have to learn from my mistakes and not do them again.
"Congratulations to Roger for what he's just achieved.
"To come from Wimbledon to clay and win both events, he definitely deserves to be number one."
MMIX
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